Adrian Fedkiw
From 5-11 to 11-5, the Philadelphia Eagles capped their greatest turnaround in franchise history with a 16-7 win over the lowly Cincinnati Bengals in Week 17 of the 2000 season.
They also clinched homefield advantage in the Wild Card Round in the process.
Donovan McNabb, in his second year at the time, was 23-of-40 for 198 yards with a touchdown and interception while adding 20 yards on the ground for the Eagles, who defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 21-3 a week later in the playoffs before bowing out in the Divisional Round, 20-10, to the New York Giants.
David Akers kicked three field goals and finished the year with 121 points, surpassing Paul McFadden’s single-season mark of 116.
Chris Warren, filling in for an injured Duce Staley that had been out since Week 5 due to a Lisfranc injury, led a four-headed rushing attack with 42 yards on 15 totes. Warren was a waiver wire addition in early September. He was best known for his prowess with the Seattle Seahawks when he ran for over 1,000 yards in four consecutive seasons from 1992-1995.
The Bengals were the Bungles at this point in time. They had won 2-of-3 coming in under head coach Dick LeBeau, who took over for Bruce Coslett after the team started 0-3. Cincinnati finished 4-12 that season.
The Eagles scored on each of their first two possessions, using an 18-play, 8:21 drive on their opening series to post a David Akers 32-yard field goal and found the end zone on their second.
Philadelphia’s longest play on its first touch was an 11-yard run from Warren as it slowly plodded its way down the field. McNabb fired a 10-yard completion to Chad Lewis on a 3rd-and-8, Stanley Pritchett rumbled for a nine-yard run off the left side of the line, McNabb hit a crossing Lewis for a nine-yard gain before scrambling for a pair of eight-yard runs to put the Eagles into field-goal range.
Danny Farmer fumbled after hauling in a slant on the third play of Cincinnati’s ensuing series and McNabb hit Charles Johnson for a 39-yard touchdown along the right sideline off a nice play-action fake a play later to stake the Birds to a 10-0 advantage with less than four minutes to go in the first quarter.
The Eagles added a field goal late in the first half. Warren picked up 10 more yards off the left side of the line, Pritchett took a dump off and gained 11 yards and McNabb hit a crossing Torrance Small for a 10-yard pickup to put them into field-goal range. Akers split the uprights from 45 yards out to make it 13-0.
The Bengals finally got on the board with 3:17 left on Peter Warrick’s 17-yard touchdown. You can check out the rookie first-round pick’s highlights below. I remember thinking he was going to be a stud, but never truly materialized into the playmaker I thought he would be.
Brian Dawkins recovered the subsequent onside kick and Akers booted through a 33-yarder to put the game out of reach.